DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — Vasek Pospisil has started the new year with a new team, feeling refreshed after a season that he says left a lingering hangover. The Canadian, a 2015 Wimbledon quarterfinalist once ranked as high as No. 25, has seen his ranking drop to No. 116.
"I know the reasons to why I dropped in the rankings last year and it wasn't so simple. It was an actual distraction in my life and in my team," Pospisil told Baseline. "It wasn't just 'Can I play that level anymore?' I just wasn't myself for almost the whole year last year."
The 26-year-old has made some big changes to revamp his career, starting with the hire of former doubles world No. 1 (and singles No. 19) Mark Woodforde.
"[Woodforde] comes to the net a lot and he was good tactically when he played," Pospisil said. "One of the things that I needed to work on was coming to the net more and utilizing my weapons. I felt like he was a good guy for that."
Though he ended up 1-2 combined in singles and doubles (with Tommy Haas) this week in Delray, Pospisil is nothing but positive about the season ahead. He's also launching a YouTube channel this week.
"It's with this Canadian company called Streak TV," Pospisil said. "Actually my brother Tom—when he travels with me—he takes tons of videos anyway because he just really enjoys it. We thought might as well since we're already doing it, so this is going to be fun."
To get to know the promising YouTube star better, let's play a game of "Would You Rather?"
Would you rather be No. 1 and never win a major or win a major and never be No. 1?
Win a major and never be No. 1.
Would you rather reach your career-high ranking this year or win an ATP title?
I would rather reach a carer-high ranking because I would imagine that would relate to having some very deep runs in some big tournaments, and I'd probably prefer that. But if I end up with career-high ranking I feel like I'd probably win a title.
If I just won a title, I could lose every match during the year, but win one tournament. It's still a great result, but I'd have a crappy year.
Would you rather beat Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal?
Roger. Sorry, Rafa.
Would you rather have the aisle or window seat on a long flight (assuming you're not in first class)?
I'll take the window seat because if I'm sitting next to some people that go to the bathroom all night and I want to sleep, that can be super annoying. If it's a shorter flight, then the aisle.
Would you rather have more followers on Twitter or Instagram?
I'm going to say, these days, Twitter. I still read Twitter. I think it's more legit, while Instagram is more superficial.
Would you rather meet your childhood hero or be someone's childhood hero?
Be someone's childhood hero. Federer was my hero for a while. Before that was Pat Rafter. I liked Rafter a lot, and he was retiring around the time Roger was coming up.